Sponsored Events

Susan Hall: How many City Hall/Mayoral sponsored events have there been since May 2016? Which budget has this come from? Please list.

The Mayor: The GLA does not fund sponsored mass participation events.
It helps to support sponsored mass participation events in London through permitting the use of Trafalgar Square for events. This includes events such as the Cancer Research London Winter Run 10k challenge, which has raised around £3 million for good causes since 2015, and the ASICS London 10K through central London.
In addition, whilst we do not provide any public money to deliver this event, we remain a key partner in the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100, which has taken place every year since 2013 and helped raise£11.5 million in 2019 alone.

Infrastructure Projects

Keith Prince: Other than projects started by your predecessor – namely the resignalling of the District, Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines; the Northern line extension to Battersea; the improvements to Bank station; the new, developer-funded ticket hall at Elephant & Castle; and the replacement of the rolling-stock on the Piccadilly line – what infrastructure projects that you have initiated do you expect to be delivered over the next five years?

The Mayor: As the Assembly member will no doubt understand, many large infrastructure projects take far longer than five years to be designed and delivered. Transport for London’s recently updated five-year Business Plan sets out its comprehensive programme of investment to deliver my Transport Strategy.
I am proud of my record of delivery in London and the investment TfL continues to make to improve the capital’s transport offer – all in the context of an unprecedented financial challenge. I am committed to making London a healthier, greener city. Since May 2016, numerous infrastructure projects have started on our streets: the distance of protected cycle routes has nearly tripled,31 Safer Junctions have been delivered at some of London’s most dangerous junctions to encourage and enable more walking and cycling and TfL has funded over 500 separate schemes by boroughs through its funding formula. TfL’s Major Schemes programmes has funded transformational public realm improvement projects across the capital which included schemes at Baker Street, Stratford Gyratory, White Hart Lane, Beam Park and Beddington Lane.
The Ultra Low Emission Zone has successfully been introduced to help clear up the city’s toxic air, 17 months earlier than had been planned, and we’re now preparing for its expansion in 2021. We’re planning for London Overground services to run along the Barking Riverside Extension and for the introduction of new trains, in addition to recent timetable improvements. New trains will be delivered on the DLR to support growth in the Docklands area while the East London line improvements, funded by the Housing Infrastructure Fund, will increase train frequency and bring a new station at Surrey Canal Road. Plans are progressing for a new fast ferry service between Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf, to transform walking and cycling options in the area. Since 2016, 10 Tube stations have become step-free and 12 more are planned to be completed by the end of the year. And of course the jointly-sponsored Crossrail project, the largest infrastructure scheme Europe has, is due to be completed next year, transforming travel across the capital.
While TfL is progressing its planning for the next generation of schemes as far as possible, it is unable to commit further to improvements to London’s transport networks - including the upgrading of Piccadilly line signalling, plans for Crossrail 2 and the Bakerloo Line Extension - without certainty of sufficient long-term government funding. We urgently need certainty of steady and sustained government funding to support the investment required to keep London – and the country – moving.

Bus Mileage (2)

Tony Devenish: What is the total bus mileage of the London bus network today?

The Mayor: Seasonal variations due to school holidays and other factors make it difficult to compare different times of year. In the four weeks to 7 December 2019, operated mileage was 22.6 million miles.
The total operated bus mileage in London in the 13 financial periods to 7 December 2019 was 295 million miles. This reflects Transport for London’s (TfL’s) work to modernise the network to better match capacity to demand, which has fallen by 4.5 per cent since May 2016.TfL will be growing the outer London bus network by 5 million kilometres (approximately 3.1 million miles) over the next five years to accommodate growth and encourage new bus journeys.

Living Wage City Learning

Leonie Cooper: What lessons have you been able to learn from Cardiff’s journey to becoming a Living Wage City?

The Mayor: I welcome the Living Wage Foundation’s recent launch of their Living Wage Places toolkit and their recognition of local partnerships and their commitment to ‘Making a Living Wage City’. It was fantastic to see Cardiff, Dundee and Salford starting this journey during Living Wage Week in 2019.
I applaud the Cardiff’s aim of increasing the number of real Living Wage employers from 82 to 150 and their target on iconic employers in the city.
I have taken a similar approach and my Economic Development Strategy sets out an ambition to work in towards every working Londoner is paid the at least the London Living Wage. There are now over 1700 employers headquartered in London accredited with the Living Wage Foundation. This represents an increase of more than 100 per cent in the number of accredited employers since my term as Mayor began.

Rail Infrastructure and Tube Upgrades

Keith Prince: When making the case to the Government for funding for rail infrastructure projects and Tube upgrades, what are your top 10 priorities in order of importance?

The Mayor: Transport for London’s (TfL’s)Capital Strategy sets out the steady and sustained investment London requires to support a twenty-year pipeline of investment.
TfL is now one of the only transport authorities in the world to receive no direct central government operating grant to support its day-to-day running costs. Although the Government has said that it would invest in areas that boost economic growth, TfL has no certainty of funding beyond 2021. In the absence of certainty of long-term Government funding, TfL is unable to commit to the long term, major infrastructure projects London needs to keep the capital competitive and support its future growth.
Recent modelling shows we have a structural gap of nearly £600 million in current prices to afford the next round of vital upgrades to our network. These include replacing some of our aging infrastructure, including the Bakerloo line rolling stock which currently operates some of the oldest trains in Great Britain; replacing the life-expired signalling system on the Piccadilly line; increasing the size of the Jubilee and Northern Line fleets and upgrading Holborn and Camden Town stations.
We also routinely discuss Crossrail 2, the Bakerloo Line Extension and have raised schemes such as the extension of DLR to Thamesmead and the West London Orbital. Our strategic case for metroisation of rail services in South London has also been shared with Government.